The DA wants the City of Ekurhuleni declared insolvent and placed under administration. It is to submit a Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia) application in an effort to throw open the “dire state” of the city’s finances.
DA member of the provincial legislature Michael Waters said the Paia application comes after co-operative governance and traditional affairs MEC Jacob Mamabolo “refused to answer follow-up questions” in the provincial legislature over what he described as the “dire state of Ekurhuleni’s finances”.
The Gauteng metros of Ekurhuleni, Tshwane and Johannesburg — blighted by low revenue collection — have experienced a cash crunch in recent months that has affected their ability to deliver basic services. They owe power utility Eskom, bulk water supplier Rand Water and other service providers billions of rand.
“In April 2025, Mamabolo revealed that as of March 31 2025, the City of Ekurhuleni owed a staggering R6.36bn to service providers, of which R2.7bn was owed for more than 30 days,” Waters said.
The late payment of accounts was in contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act. “The city owes Eskom R3bn, Rand Water R600m, the East Rand Water Care Company [Erwat] R530m and other service providers R1.4bn,” said Water.
“Five months later, Mamabolo would not answer further questions regarding the ongoing state of the city’s finances.”
Finance minister Enoch Godongwana recently read the riot act to the City of Johannesburg over its chaotic finances. He threatened to withhold Treasury funding if no remedial action was taken.
So parlous are the city’s finances that the council’s Johannesburg Property Company wants to review the leases of iconic greenbelt clubs such as Marks Park and the Killarney Country Club to “optimise” their use and squeeze more money out of them.
Waters said some of the questions posed to Mamabolo were related to how much was still owed to service providers such as Rand Water and Eskom. “The DA Gauteng is questioning why MEC Mamabolo is not declaring the Ekurhuleni insolvent and putting the city under administration.
“Instead of answering the question, Mamabolo referred to the Local Government Turnaround summit held in October 2024. According to the MEC, the province had initiated a process to baseline critical services of all municipalities and had adopted plans to resolve the issues,” he said.
“According to the MEC, through this assessment of capacity in municipalities, the provincial government can draw relevant and accurate information in response to the questions, and therefore, would be able to provide answers to questions after this exercise.”
The DA believes it is not only unconstitutional but unacceptable that the MEC refuses to answer follow-up questions, even though he answered the original question in April 2025.
“It is obvious that the financial situation of the Ekurhuleni has further deteriorated, and the MEC has decided to deliberately withhold embarrassing information from the public.”
Waters said the DA would continue to fight for transparency and the residents of Ekurhuleni: “The residents and businesses pay billions every month for services that the city is not paying for. Where is all the money going? We would like to know what the MEC is trying to hide.”
The Ekurhuleni metro said it noted the DA statement, but contrary to the “picture painted”, the city’s financial position had improved compared with the previous financial year.
“The City of Ekurhuleni is not insolvent and continues to meet its statutory and service delivery obligations. Independent assessments have also recognised this improvement, with our credit rating revised from ‘negative’ to ‘stable’ — a direct reflection of better financial health,” Ekurhuleni metro spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said.
“While the city continues to manage creditor balances, we have made significant progress in stabilising our cash flow and ensuring that essential services remain uninterrupted. Payment arrangements are in place with key service providers, including Eskom, Rand Water and Erwat to honour commitments while prioritising core service delivery,” Dlamini said.
The metro had been participating in the local government turnaround process initiated by the provincial government, “which includes a baseline assessment of critical services across all municipalities. This process is intended to provide accurate and comparable data to guide sustainable interventions.”
“Our priority remains clear: to safeguard the delivery of quality municipal services while maintaining the city’s financial stability. We will continue to work with all stakeholders, including provincial and national government, to address fiscal challenges in a responsible and sustainable manner.”
Mamabolo said his department supported the turnaround of all municipalities in the province. Gauteng has 11 municipalities, which were owed more than R130bn by households, commercial entities and organs of state.
With TimesLIVE
Update: August 11 2025
This article has been updated with comments from Ekurhuleni and Mamabolo.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.